Introduction

Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president in 1990 but served only 7 months before being ousted in a military coup. Under threat of US invasion, the military junta stepped down in 1994 and Aristide saw out the rest of his term. Constitutionally barred from contesting the presidential election of 1996, he successfully stood for office again in 2000. A staunch opponent of the dictatorial regimes of Papa and Baby Doc, he was unable to resolve Haiti’s economic and political crises. He was forced to flee the country in Feb. 2004 after a military insurrection.

Early Life

Aristide was born on 15 July 1953 in Port-Salut on Haiti but spent much of his youth in Port-au-Prince, the capital. He was educated in Roman Catholic schools and at the College Notre Dame in Cap-Haïtien before attending a seminary run by the Salesian Fathers in the Dominican Republic. He returned to the Grand Seminaire Notre Dame to undertake post-graduate philosophy studies and then to the State University of Haiti where he graduated in psychology in 1979. Aristide then studied theology in Rome and Israel.

In 1983 he returned to Haiti to be ordained and was named curate of St Joseph’s church in Port-au-Prince. In 1985 Aristide completed his foreign studies and gained a master’s degree from Canada’s Montreal University. He returned to Port-au-Prince and the church of St Jean Bosco. Here he gained a reputation for his vociferous criticism of Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) via his sermons and his broadcasts on a Catholic radio station and was warned by the Salesian order for his political activism.

In Feb. 1986 Baby Doc was forced from power and replaced by a military junta. Aristide won wide respect for heading a march to commemorate Duvalier’s victims that was attacked by the army. In the same year he established the Lafanmi Selavi orphanage. In Sept. 1988 Aristide survived one of several attempts made on his life when St Jean Bosco’s was attacked by a crowd of pro-government supporters as he preached. Several dozen worshippers died in the incident and the resultant public out-cry was regarded as key to the collapse of the military regime the following week. Aristide, however, was dismissed from the Salesian order for his political stance.

Aristide remained prominent in Haiti’s fragile journey towards democracy through to the elections of 1990. Backed by the swelling support of the Lavalas (The Flood), a popular democratic movement, Aristide announced he would stand for the presidency and emerged victorious with 67% of the vote, although the election was beset by violence.

Career Peak

Aristide was sworn in on 7 Feb. 1991 and began a programme of democratization that won widespread support and brought much-needed international aid. However, in Sept. 1991 the military, led by Brigadier-General Raoul Cedras, staged a coup and Aristide went into exile in Venezuela and then Washington, D.C. as Haiti succumbed to a 3 year reign of terror that cost over 5,000 lives.

The US, UN and the OAS instigated sanctions against Haiti and, following the threat of a US invasion, Aristide was able to return to Haiti in Oct. 1994 to see out the remainder of his term. Faced with a devastated economy and a fractured political landscape, Aristide set about restructuring the armed forces and established a civilian police force. Elections were held in Feb. 1996 and Aristide, constitutionally prohibited from standing for a second consecutive term, was succeeded by Réné Préval in independent Haiti’s first peaceful transition of power.

Whilst out of office Aristide established an eponymous foundation for democracy. In Nov. 1996 he founded the Fanmi Lavalas (Lavalas Family) Party. Haiti struggled to repair itself and Préval began rule by decree in 1999. Aristide announced his intention to stand for the presidency in elections in Nov. 2000. He won with 91.8% of the vote but several opposition groups alleged fraud and international aid was frozen. The political scene remained entrenched and in July 2001 Aristide accused several former army officers of attempting a coup. Thirty armed men attacked the National Palace in Dec. 2001 in a further challenge to the presidency. In July 2002 Aristide oversaw Haiti’s entry into CARICOM despite fears of continuing human rights abuses within the country.

In July 2003 the Inter-American Development Bank granted loans worth US$220m. to fund improvements in transport, education and public health. However, Aristide’s presidency was weakened by mass demonstrations in early 2004. Rebel forces seized the north of the country and Aristide fled abroad before the advancing militias.

Later Life

The chief justice, Boniface Alexandre, was sworn in as provisional president on 29 Feb. 2004. Aristide went first to the Central African Republic and then to Jamaica, from where he filed lawsuits against unspecified officials from the US and France, alleging he had been kidnapped and forced into exile.

Aristide returned to Haiti in March 2011.